Inspections highlight worrying safety lapses at French nuclear power plants

Inspections carried out by France's nuclear safety authority the Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire (ASN) in March 2017 and 2018 to examine how safety regulations relating to the risk of explosions at four of the country's nuclear power stations plants are implemented highlight lapses in procedure and equipment, Mediapart can reveal. They show that in the power plants at Chinon, Flamanville, Penly and Paluel, operators EDF have failed to respect what are known as the ATEX rules on controlling potentially explosive atmospheres and have underestimated the risks of explosions at these centres. These findings, which Mediapart has seen, did not however feature in a recent Parliamentary report which called for improvements in safety in France's nuclear industry.